Green Democratic Socialists
The Green Democratic Socialists (GDS) were founded by James Horne and Alfie Davis, and is one of the original founding five parties. They had left social policies, and far-left economic policies. They began as the Labour Party equivalent, specifically the Momentum faction of the Labour Party. The GDS would be inherently unstable due to the large coalition of left wing party members. The GDS would go on to form a coalition government with the British Futurists, but due to divisions within the GDS, they would effectively dissolve, and would be replaced by the British Futurists as the Labour Party equivalent and part of the "Big Two". Founding Founded by James Horne, the GDS were the largest party by members, famously being able to fulfil every cabinet position. However, GDS would suffer two defections in the first session of Parliament, losing Xander Voorslujis and Daniel Zhao, the latter would go on to be the Interim Prime Minister. GDS pushed for social equality and a total reorganisation of society, through massively increased income taxes to meet the increased government expenditure, notably the "80% Tax". These policies however did not represent the entirety of the GDS, as moderate members of the GDS, Harrison Moore and Lucas Beghein, did not have their say accurately represented. These divisions would become more pronounced as they moved closer towards the November 2019 General Election. First Campaign Co-operation with Vote Dan The GDS would co-operate on a large scale with Vote Dan, a self proclaimed communist party. Seat sharing agreements would prove highly beneficial for both parties, securing large swathes of the North and weakening Enterprise. Beginning of the End During the first campaign, major controversies were revealed within the GDS. The most substantial was the Maoist coup incident. This event was published onto the Discord server, and within minutes, the leader, James Horne, was forced to resign as leader due to internal and external pressure. This incident further deepend divisions in the party, as Harrison Moore won the leadership election, which placed a centrist as leader. The leader of the Maoist coup incident was never expelled, and further led to major clashes within the party. Vote Dan would dissolve part way through the election, as Vote Dan was unable to produce any major policies or policy handbook. The dissolution of a major ally allowed the British Futurists, who still commanded the 20-30% of the vote in the North to seize control of many constituencies, effectively ending any possiblity of a GDS majority government. Coalition Government After the results of the first election, the British Futurists and the GDS formed a coalition government, with the British Futurists holding 31 seats, and the GDS holding 26. Together, they formed a government with 57 seats. Selection of Harrison Moore During coalition talks, the British Futurists held the larger share of seats, and according to political pundits and opposition parties, it was anticipated that a moderate BFP would become Prime Minister, with the majority of commentators selecting Daniel Zhao as the most likely to become Prime Minister. However, Harrison Moore had explicitly instructed the GDS members to vote against Daniel Zhao, resulting in Daniel Zhao securing fewer votes than Toby Estaugh. This meant that Harrison Moore was selected after an emergency discussion was held within the British Futurists, with 3 - 2 in favour of selecting Harrison Moore. Interviews conducted after the selection indicated that if the Harrison Moore had not whipped them not to vote for Daniel Zhao, he would have secured the majority of the vote and become Prime Minister. The final result was the weakening of British Futurists - GDS relations before any policy had been discussed. Major Differences Many members of the GDS refused to co-operate with the British Futurists, as the leader was Toby Estaugh. However, moderate party members (Daniel Zhao and Alfie Davis) of both the British Futurists and the GDS would allow for some basic co-operation. Death Penalty The death penalty had been one of the key campaign promises of the British Futurists. The GDS were strongly against the death penalty, which was the most extreme difference. However, it had been successfully negotiated, with the GDS having a large input and the implementation of many measures designed to restrict the criteria for the death penalty to effectively cover no one, in return the GDS would abstain from any votes on the bill, including any amendments. However, after the passing of the first Scanlan Amendment, the members of GDS who voted against the government whip, in favour of the amendment were expelled from the party. Unable to command a majority, the government promptly collapsed. The remaining senior party members announced their resignation. With no major central group in control, the GDS effectively collapsed. The dissolution of GDS would be announced the following day, and the British Futurist - Green Democratic Socialist coalition government collapsed. Category:Political Party